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1 1 l Examinezi L. B. DORR.

AIRPLANE. APPLICATION FILED AUG.6.19I8 v I 312,686. 1 Patented Aug.12,1919. 4 I 5 SHEETSSHEET 2.

Tu: COLuMmA PLANQOBAPII cm. wAsumu'rou, n. c

L. B. DORR.

AIRPLANE.

APPLICATION man nus. 6 1918;

Patented Aug. 12, 1919.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

.0 all whom it may concern." 1 Be it known that 1, Loans BRADLEY Donn,

m m STATES PAT NT a citizen of the United States, residing at Buffalo,in the county of Erie and. State of New York, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Airplanes, of which the following is aspecification; v This invention relates to airplanes.- It

i i embraces certain of the principles and dis coveries disclosed in mypending applica-' tion, Serial No. 228,831, filed April 16, 1918, and itembraces certain principles and discoveries which will beunderstoodbythose skilled in the -art from the following speci fication. a

"The objects of my invention are to provide an airplane of great liftingand sustaining power and adaptable to high speed;

an airplane which may. be constructed Q i Fig. 3 is a plan view.

chiefly of metal, and which may be equipped with a unit or' units ofpower greatly in excess of that hitherto used. Another object is tomaterially shorten the ground run in getting up. These and other objectswill bewunderstood from. this specification, the claims, and thedrawings herewith,

' which are diagrammatic and illustrative,

r 1. Figure 1- is a side elevat1on, partly in sectlOIl; 1 i f. Y A: .2;.Fig. 2,-is a front elevation. 11' 1 Fig. 4 is a side elevation, partlyin section, of a modified form of construction. Fig. 5 1s a frontelevation of such modified form of construction.

Referring first to Figs. 1 to 8 inclusive, it will be seen that the bodyis boat-shaped and has a longitudinal trough or depression 2. This formof construction of the body 1 is preferable, but is not the only formwhich may be successfully used. The tail or rudder'3 may be of anydesired form, and may have both vertical and horizontal rudder blades,as shown. The sides 4, referably of sheet metal properly reinforce arerigidly secured to the body 1. Pivotally mounted inside of and bearingagainst the side walls 4 are carrying plates 5', the pivotal pointsbeing shown at 6. Rigidly secured to the plates 5 are the aerofoils, 7,7, 7 7 7, and 8. The engines and pros. pellers are mounted upon the body1 and within the area or partial inclosuro formed AIRPLANE.

" want-u aerofoils 7, 7, etc., as'indicated in broken outline in Fig. 1.5-; w *Rigidly secured to theplates 5 near their rear ends are chains 9,which pass down under sprockets 10 and 11, and thence up and are securedto the forward ends of the plates 5. By rotating either pair of sprocketwheels, '10 or 11, by any'desired means, the chains 9 willtilt'the'plates 5 up or down on the pivots '6,- and thus change theangle of inclination of each of the aerofoils. The chains ;9 and thesprockets 10 and 11 and their bearings should be strong enoughpractically to carry the entire load','the lift upon the pivots 6 beingthus reduced to the minimum. 'f VVith this general description I willnow refer to the aerofoil or multiplane construction more particularly'The aerofoils 7, 7 7", 7,and 7' are secured to the'plates 5 preferablyequidistantly with reference to their front or cutting edges, butunequally, as will presently appear, with reference to their rear edges.Let it be assumed 7 is positioned twenty degrees from the normalhorizontal. Then the angle of aerofoil 7 would be about eighteendegrees; the aerofoil 7 about sixteen degrees; the aerofoil 7 aboutfourteen degrees," and the aerofoil 7 about twelve degreesi In otherwords, the aero- 'mcmsmmz Donn, OFBUFFALO, ironic if 1 foils(eXceptingB) progressively approach more-nearly to the normalhorizontal. This necessarily makes between any two aerofoils aprogressively-increasing cross-section of space; and it also is to benoted that, as the sides 4 and plates 5" diverge rearwardly, there istransverse as'well as vertical increase of these cross-sections ofspace. The object of" this construction is two-fold. First, itreducesthe pressure upon the under sides of the aerofoils and consequentlyreduces the friction' Second, it increases the vacuum action upon theupper sides of the aerofoils, and thus increases the lifting efi'ect. Ya

The construction and function of the aerofoil 8 is somewhat difierent.It is preferably bull-nosed on the cutting edge and is ogee-curvedrearwardly and is much wider than the other aerofoils. Furthermore, itsrearportion extends down to the rear of the propeller blades andreduces, somewhat, the discharge area at the rear of the pro pellers.Hence, while the aerofoil 8 has the lifting .eflect ex endingsubstantially over its entire upper surface, the rear portion of iin ethe air 11 on-diiferent lanes or strata thus giving them a multiplaneeffect; and

the number of aerofoils and their lengths may be varied asdesired, or amultiple unit constructionone structure above another with correspondingincrease of power for propulsion may be employed. Also it is to be notedthat the air fiowingover'the' front edgeor noseof the body has, inmanner similar to the aerofoils, a substantial lifting effect; and thebottom of the body, built upon modified streamlines, has comparativelysmall resistance but a considerable lifting power. ,Thus the purpose ofprovidingwhat may be termed aninclosed area upon the underside ofthe.aerofoils is threefold: 1) to reduce the air friction, (2) toincrease'the vacuumeffect, (3) to increase the density of the airagainst which the propellerblades act. IVhile theaerofoils may be'madeof equal ,length, so that the side. plates will be parallel, the doubleangle construction as shown, and as above indicated,

' is preferable for the reason that it increases and is therefore notmovable.

the air cross-sectionhorizontally rearwardly as well as vertically, withthe result that the vacuum effect is increased.

In Figs. 4: and 5 I have shown a modified form. of construction relatingto the means for effecting change of angle of the aerofoilsthe otherfeatures being substantially as already shown and described. Instead of-employing the plates 5 pivotally connected to the sides of the body,the aerofoils 7, 7*, 7}, 7, 7*, are pivoted on their ends and adjacentto their cutting edges directly to the side plates l. The aerofoil 8, inthis construction. is rigidly secured to the plates 4, The rear edges ofthe aerofoils 7 7 7 7?, 7 d are C0115. nected by chains or cables 9which pass over sprockets or drums 10 10 and 11 'By movement of suchchains or cablesby rotation of a pair of sprockets or drums by anydesired means, the aerofoils (excepting aerofoil 8) are uniformly movedto change their angle. This is a typical modification, and it will. beunderstood by those skilled in the art that such change of angle maybeotherwise effected without departing from: my invention,-as, forexample, by pivoting. the rear ends of the plates 5 to the sides 4 andusing any desired means for raising and. lowering the front ends of theplates 5; or such. pivoting ,and raising and; lowerin means may bereversedin position.

In. connection with, the modified form of, Constructionshown ilrFigs. 4.and-5, I have shown stabilizing wings 12, which upon their front edgesare rigidly secured and webbed to tubular shafts 13, which shafts arejournaled through the side walls d, as shown at 14, and are connectedinteriorly of the body with any well-known control means (not shown). Innormal equal angle of inclination these wings 12 act as stabilizers; andby change of angle, one with the other,

-correction, or control, or banking may be effected. Such wingsobviously maybe applied to the construction shown in Figs; 1

to 3,; and, while these are-advantageous, I.

sides adaptedto engage with a plurality ofaerofo'ils, a plurality ofaerofoils mounted within said sides upon progressively decreasing anglesof impactand having their cutting edges progressively higher from frontto rear, mechanism for simultaneously, changing the angle of saidaerofoils with reference to said body, and an aerofoilat the rear. ofsaid haul; of aerofoils of greater width and extending down into therear interior area to reduce the size of the discharge opening, a sourceof power and propellers mounted within said area formed by said body,sides and bank of aerofoils.

2. In an airplane, a plurality of aerofoils arranged in upwardlyreceding formation, a bottom and vertical sides connecting said bottomand said aerofoils and, propelling means therefor. v

8. In an airplane, a plurality of aerofo-ils arranged in upwardlyreceding formation withprogressively decreasing angles of impact fromfront to rear, sides anda bottom therefor forming a semi-closed areaunderneath said aerofoils anda motor and pr0- peller therefor.

4. In an airplane, a. arranged in upwardly receding formation withprogressively decreasing angles of impact from front to rear, a body andsides thereon, plates rigidly secured to said aerofoilsand pivoted tothe sides of said body and means ,for moving said plates upon theirpivots to change the impact angles of said aerofoils and means forpropelling the airplane. r I

5. In an airplane, a body, sides rigid with said body and in verticaldiverging planes from front to rear, a plurality of aerofoils carried bysaid sides and arranged upon progressively decreasing angles and havingtheir cutting edges arranged progressively plurality of aerofoils ploy1t 1n the same or k ndred constructmns,

higher from front to rear and means for propelling the airplane.

6. In an airplane, a body, sides rigid with said body and in verticaldiverging planes from front to rear, a plurality of aerofoils carried bysaid sides and arranged upon progressively decreasing angles of impactand having their cutting edges progressively higher from front to rear,means for simultaneously changing the angle of said aerofoils withreference to said body and means for propelling the airplane.

7. In an airplane, a body, sides rigid with said body and in verticaldiverging planes from front to rear, carrying-plates pivoted to saidsides, a plurality of aerofoils rigidly secured to said carrying-platesand arranged upon progressively decreasing angles of impact andprogressively impinging higher strata of air, means for tilting saidcarrying-plates upon their pivots to simultaneously change the angle ofsaid aerofo-ils with reference to said body and means for propelling theairplane.

8. In an airplane, a floody, sides rigid with said body and in verticaldiverging planes from front to rear, a plurality of aerofoils arrangedup'on progressively decreasing an-' gles of impact and having theircutting 30 edges progressively higher from front to rear and havingtheir ends pivotal-1y connected to said sides, means for simultane ouslychanging the angle of said aerofoils with reference to said body andmeans for propelling the airplane.

9. An airplane comprising a body and vertical sides, a plurality ofaerofoils mounted within said sides upon progressively decreasing anglesof impact and having their cutting edges progressively higher from frontto rear, mechanism for simultaneously changing the angle of said aerofoils with reference to said body, and an aerofoil at the rear of said'bank of aerofoils of greater width and extending down into the rearinterior area to reduce the size of the discharge opening, a source ofpower and propellers mounted within said area formed by said body, sidesand bank of aerofo-ils.

10. An airplane comprising a body, rearwardly-diverging sides, and abank of aerofoils arranged progressively rearwardly one above the otherand upon decreasing angles of impact from front to rear to reduce thefriction and to increase the vacuum effect upon said aerofoils, a motorand propeller Within the area thus formed, and an aerofoil extendingdownwardly to the rear of said propeller to reduce the air exit andincrease the driving effect of said propeller, and means forsimultaneously changing the angle of said bank of aerofoils withreference to body.

11. In combination with the elements set forth in claim 10, stabilizingmeans comprising wings pivotally secured to said sides and means formoving said wings, the one independently of the other, upon said pivotsto effect correction, banking, or balance of the airplane. r

12. In an airplane, a plurality of aerofoils having their cutting edgesarranged in a plane extending upwardly and rearwardly and the impactsurfaces of said aerofoils arranged upon progressively reduced angles tothe normal horizontal, an inclosing body underneath said aerofoils,whereby the friction upon their undersides is reduced and whereby thevacuum effect is increased, and means for propelling the airplane.

Ll BRADLEY DORR.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

- v Washington, D. 0.

